ART OF THIS CENTURY, gallery.

Card: Marcel Duchamp: Box-Valise…Laurence Vail: Bottles, Objects by Joseph Cornell (December 1942).

Illus. designed by J. Cornell on both sides. Thick paper card. New York: 1942.

The very rare invitation card for a three-man exhibition at Peggy Guggenheim’s art gallery, the card was designed by Joseph Cornell (1903-72), who showed three new boxes alongside works which Guggenheim had purchased in previous years. WorldCat records three examples of this card.

“In December 1942, Cornell participated in a three-man show at Peggy Guggenheim’s new gallery. Art of This Century had opened only two months earlier, seven flights above a grocery…For her Christmastime show, Guggenheim selected a trio of artists whose work she found especially amusing. Cornell contributed his three new masterworks: Medici Slot Machine, Setting for a Fairy Tale, and Untitled (Pharmacy), which were shown alongside some earlier pieces purchased by Guggenheim before the gallery opened…Duchamp lent his Box in a Valise in a limited edition, and Laurence Vail, Guggenheim’s ex-husband, exhibited his ‘bottles’…”–D. Solomon, Utopia Parkway: The Life and Work of Joseph Cornell (1997), p. 144.

In fine condition.